A 20-year-old student from Ghana with legal asylum protections was deported to Cameroon in mid-January 2026 as part of a secret third-country removal program. She was transferred in handcuffs and shackles and held in detention in Yaoundé without documentation or due process. Her removal was part of an undisclosed U.S.-Cameroon agreement under which 36 people from at least ten countries, many holding U.S. court protections against return to their home countries, were flown to Cameroon on four flights between January and May 2026. The arrangement coincided with a $30 million U.S. payment to the UN refugee program in Cameroon, announced two days before the first flight.